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12 Oct 2009 : Column 69W—continued
Social Security Benefits
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid in benefit payments to residents of (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency, (b) Dacorum, (c) Hertfordshire and (d) England in (i) 1980, (ii) 1997, (iii) 2001, (iv) 2005 and (v) 2008. [289406]
Jim Knight: The requested information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of benefit claimants whose benefit entitlement was incorrectly assessed in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [289766]
Helen Goodman: The Department's measurement system for fraud and error does not estimate the number or proportion of cases of fraud or error over a given period.
It does, however, provide estimates of the average proportion and number of claims that are fraudulent or in error at any one time during a year for income support, jobseeker's allowance and pension credit. Estimates are also produced for housing benefit, but only on the proportion of claims that are fraudulent or in error at any one time during a year.
The available information is provided in the following tables.
| Estimates of average proportion and number of incorrect cases in Income Support at any one time | ||
| Average number incorrect (thousand) | Average proportion incorrect (percentage) | |
| Notes: The average number incorrect has been rounded to the nearest thousand. Source: Supplementary tables to National Statistics publication series "Fraud and Error in the Benefit System" | ||
| Estimates of average proportion and number of incorrect cases in Jobseeker's Allowance at any one time | ||
| Average number incorrect (thousand) | Average proportion incorrect (percentage) | |
| Notes: The average number incorrect has been rounded to the nearest thousand. Source: Supplementary tables to National Statistics publication series "Fraud and Error in the Benefit System" | ||
| Estimates of average proportion and number of incorrect cases in Pension Credit at any one time | ||
| Average number incorrect (thousand) | Average proportion incorrect (percentage) | |
| Notes: The average number incorrect has been rounded to the nearest thousand. Source: Supplementary tables to National Statistics publication series "Fraud and Error in the Benefit System" | ||
| Estimate; of average proportion of incorrect cases in Housing Benefit any one time | |
| Average proportion incorrect (percentage) | |
| Source: Supplementary tables to National Statistics publication series "Fraud and Error in the Benefit System" | |
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what new procedures her Department plans to introduce to detect and prosecute those abusing the benefits system. [291277]
Helen Goodman [holding answer 16 September 2009]: The Department is always open to adopting new innovations to improve the detection and prosecution of benefit thieves. For example, we are currently piloting the use of Voice Risk Analysis, investigating the effectiveness of new data analysis techniques and working with new partners, including the National Fraud Authority.
Social Security Benefits: Pay Methods
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will assess the effect on (a) pensioners and (b) persons receiving benefits of proposals to phase out cheques as methods of payment. [291743]
Helen Goodman: Introducing a more modern, efficient and reliable system to replace cheques will enable us to provide a better service to our customers. Suppliers will be expected to put in place suitable arrangements to meet the needs of all customers who cannot open or operate an account.
Social Security Benefits: Per Capita Costs
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what her Department's most recent estimate is of the average cost per person per month of (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) income support and (c) housing benefit. [290481]
Jim Knight: The answer is not available in the format requested. The available information is in the tables.
| May 2009 (£) | |
| Notes: 1. Average amounts are shown as pounds per week and rounded to the nearest penny. 2. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated. 3. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE). | |
State Retirement Pensions
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claiming the state pension had their pensions payments temporarily suspended to perform system checks in each month of 2009; and how many days on average such checks lasted. [291156]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 14 September 2009]: The information requested is not available. This is because payments of state pension are not temporarily suspended to perform any system checks.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reasons individuals claiming the state pension may have their pension payments suspended. [291763]
Angela Eagle: Payment of state pension would be suspended until the issue in question is resolved. The Secretary of State has the discretion to suspend state pension in whole or in part and would normally do so until any issue which may lead to a doubt about ongoing entitlement had been resolved.
State pension may be suspended due to the following reasons:
When official DWP correspondence, which has been sent to the customer, is returned by Royal Mail stating 'not known at this address'. Upon receipt of undelivered correspondence, we would suspend payment of benefit and take action to trace an up to date address for the customer. Payment would only be reinstated when a current address is obtained from the customer or their representative.
When benefit payments are returned by a bank or building society noted 'account closed reason unknown'. Inquiries would need to be made to establish why the payment has not been made to the nominated account and this would prompt suspension of future payments until the reason is known.
Where the Department has been informed that a customer receiving Widows Benefit has remarried or where investigations show that a widow is living together as husband and wife with a new partner.
When a customer is remanded in custody.
When inquiries or allegations are made regarding a misappropriation of funds by the customer's representative or power of attorney. This would be a request by either the Social Services or via third party disclosure and would result in suspension of benefit.
When the Department has been notified of the customer's death but the exact date is currently not known. Payment would be suspended until the issues in question are resolved.
State Retirement Pensions: Birmingham
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath constituency were in receipt of a state pension in each of the last three years. [291554]
Angela Eagle: The information is in the following table.
State Retirement Pensions: Perth
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed the state pension in Perth and North Perthshire constituency in each of the last three years. [289516]
Angela Eagle: Information on the number of people who have claimed the State Pension is not available. Information on the total State Pension caseload for the Perth and North Perthshire constituency is in the following table.
| Caseload | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are as at November for the years shown. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10; some additional disclosure control has been applied. 3. Caseload refers to successful claims. 4. Constituencies are for the Westminster parliament. Source: DWP Information Directorate-Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. | |
Unemployment Benefits
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate her Department has made of the number of its new customers who will be assessed using the work capability assessment; and how many and what proportion of these customers are expected to flow onto (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) employment and support allowance (ESA) work related activity group and (c) ESA support group in each month to March 2012. [288520]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 20 July 2009]: Information on the Work Capability Assessment for Employment and Support Allowance is due for publication on 13 October.
Winter Fuel Payments
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions her Department has had with the Department of Energy and Climate Change on the winter fuel payment scheme. [289930]
Angela Eagle: We regularly review our policies with other Government Departments which have an interest. However, there have been no recent discussions with the Department of Energy and Climate Change regarding winter fuel payment policy.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications for winter fuel payments from residents of (a) Chorley, (b) Lancashire and (c) England were subject to inaccurate data handling by the Pension Service resulting in an extension of prioritising time in the winter of 2007-08. [292106]
Angela Eagle: The information requested is not available.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures are in place to ensure that inaccuracies in data held by the Pension Service do not result in the late issue of winter fuel payments. [292107]
Angela Eagle: The measures for existing DWP customers are that winter fuel payments are generated using existing data from the payment system. For customers who are not in receipt of another DWP benefit, a properly completed claim form must be received by Thursday of the qualifying week (third week of September), in order to guarantee payment before Christmas.
If more information is required from the customer they may not receive their payment before Christmas. However, as long as a properly completed claim is received by 30 March, payments can still be issued up to mid-June.
During 2008-09 the Pension, Disability and Carers Service delivered automatic winter fuel payments to over 99.9 per cent. of eligible customers by the end of December, and as a result over 12.5 million customers received their payment before Christmas 2008.
International Development
Afghanistan
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many occasions he visited Afghanistan on official business in the last 12 months. [290420]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: I have visited Afghanistan twice on official business in the last 12 months.
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